People view the countdown to 2022 light projection show held at Singapore's Marina Bay on Dec. 28, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)

A sharp fall in trade visitors is expected at the Singapore Airshow this week compared to the last edition two years ago as COVID-19 continues to hit the industry, the organizer of Asia's biggest aerospace industry gathering said on Sunday.

More than 13,000 trade visitors are expected at the biennial show from Tuesday to Friday, Experia Events Managing Director Leck Chet Lam told reporters, down from nearly 30,000 in 2020 and around 54,000 in 2018. 

There will be no public days this time.

The event has bookended the coronavirus pandemic, with the 2020 edition disrupted by the virus and the latest show coming as the industry attempts to plot a way out of what became its biggest and costliest crisis.

Leck said more than 70 percent of the world's top 20 aerospace companies would be at 2022's show, including industry giants Airbus, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, as the industry tries to navigate out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

International passenger numbers in Asia are rising, though from a very low base, as countries relax COVID-19 pandemic-related border restrictions. 

Military demand is also picking up as regional economies recover from coronavirus pandemic-induced slumps and countries look to bolster their capabilities.

Singapore's Economic Development Board Vice President Lim Tse Yong said that major aerospace companies planned to create more than 1,000 jobs in the country over the next two years as the market rebounds.

Reuters